Thank you to all columnists who took the time to write about National Columnists Day!
Below are the columns penned in honor of National Columnists Day.
In the social media-Julian Assange era, would Americans click ‘like’ for Ernie Pyle?
By Chris Carosa
Would America today embrace the next Ernie Pyle? He wasn’t a muckraker, a hacker or a spiller of wartime secrets. He didn’t precipitate lawsuits or landmark court rulings. He got his information the old-fashioned way, by being there. And he told his stories with a down-to-earth elegance that connected with his readers.
Pyle developed his conversational, homespun style in the 1930s as a roving reporter. “This roving job has taken me to every state in the Union (except Utah, and I’m on my way there now),” he wrote. “Everywhere I go people are jealous of me. They think it must be wonderful just to ride around with your expenses paid and have nothing to do but write one column a day. They’re practically right. They’d be completely right if it weren’t for the column.”
Read More Here: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/04/18/social-media-julian-assange-era-ernie-pyle-deserves-likes-column/3487571002/
You Can Trust These Pages
By Chandra Bozelko
When Horace Greeley founded the New-York Tribune in 1841, he separated news reporting from opinion writing, giving opinion its own page — the last one in the newspaper. Greeley’s innovation was an attempt to de-fake the news because prior to his news segregation, papers were virtually all opinion pieces financed by political parties and full of falsehoods, innuendo and self-interested rants.
Read More Here: https://www.creators.com/read/chandra-bozelko/04/19/you-can-trust-these-pages
Opinion writing vs. blowing off steam
Christine McDonald
Everybody has an opinion. Everybody.
And everybody is voicing them.
Print, online and on air; written, visual and audible, there is no escaping the myriad of mediums available to share our views. From social media musings of our chia tea at the local café to award-winning opinion writing, everyone is opining.
Read more here:
Opinion writing vs. blowing off steam
A Toast to Ernie
By Smiley Anders
Thursday, April 18, is National Columnists Day, and the date wasn’t chosen at random by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.
It’s the day the great war columnist Ernie Pyle was shot and killed by a sniper on a Pacific island near the end of World War II. Ernie, writing for the Scripps-Howard newspapers, was fresh from covering the war in Europe from the point of view of the foot soldier.
Ernie’s work is a reminder that sometimes we humble scribes can touch lives in special ways and a testimony to the power of good writing.
So today I’ll quaff a root beer for Ernie and all those who string words together for a living.
Read More Here:
Happy National Columnists Day
By Abbie S. Fink
I was doing a little research for April “holidays” for a client pitch idea and learned that today is National Columnists Day.
The National Society of Newspaper Columnists, which was founded in 1977, sponsors and promotes this day in support of columnists, journalists and bloggers around the world. This day is dedicated to increasing awareness of the importance and contributions made by writers.
https://hmapr.com/columnists-day/
Columnists view world through own filters
By Rebecca Regnier
April 18 is National Columnists Day; it commemorates Pyle by highlighting the work of the modern columnist. I am a columnist. Today columnists were asked to write about why we do this job. A job that pays low and often is accompanied by derision.
Some think that columnists aren’t journalists. That’s wrong. We document what we see, experience and observe, just as a beat reporter does. We don’t invent facts. However, we do endeavor to interpret events and offer context.
Why I Write
By Christopher Six
Anyone who knows me knows one of my favorite films is “The Paper,” Ron Howard’s 1990s ode to New York tabloid journalism. Many a time when I have been sidelined out of a newsroom, it keeps me going. He captured the energy of “the good old days.”
One of my favorite parts is a tirade by editor-in-chief Bernie White (Robert Duvall):
“I hate columnists! Why do I have all these columnists? I got political columnists, guest columnists… celebrity columnists – The only thing I don’t have is a dead columnist. That’s the kind I could really use… We reek of opinions. What every columnist at this paper needs to do is to shut the f*** up.”
Today’s journalism landscape is treacherous. Just today, I read Reporters Without Borders dropped us to “problematic” status in their press freedom index, and just last year, we stood in horror as a gunman struck down our colleagues at the Capital Gazette. Economic difficulties have shut the doors on papers nationwide, hedge funds strangle resources at remaining properties and journalists increasingly come under fire for bias.
Read More Here: http://www.cdsix.com/read-my-latest/why-i-write
April celebrates Columnists Day: separating the good from the bad and the ugly
By Suzette Martinez Standring
Being a columnist is all about relationships. April 18 celebrates Columnists Day, and its patron saint is Ernie Pyle, the famous World War II reporter whose front line stories made vivid and vulnerable the sacrifices of service men and women. At its heart, memorable opinion writing humanizes events and struggles.
Whether a writer is liberal, conservative or somewhere in between, or whether the columnist writes about family, health, and general life, the job is to help readers understand the world around them with facts and intelligent reasoning. Add empathy, experience and understanding. It’s about relationships.
Read More Here:
And Here:
April 18 is National Columnists Day: Let’s Look at How Opinion Writing Still Fits
By Bonnie Jean Feldkamp
Columnists are bound to take a hit no matter their stance. It’s part of the job and it’s the risk you take publishing opinion. Oh, the comments sections though…don’t look! Readers say they no longer know whom to trust. “Fake News!” is an accusation that gets hurled around when opinions differ. People seem to rely more heavily on “gut checks” than fact checks. Plus, it’s no secret the industry is evolving and it is obvious to see that the industry as a whole is struggling in that evolution. However, opinion journalism is still relevant and important. Read More Here:
https://writingcooperative.com/april-18-is-national-columnists-day-9c02c4c3535a
Minnesota Opinion: Opinion journalism is critical to our communities
By Duluth News Tribune
On Legacy.com
The anniversary of the April 18, 1945 death of the great Ernie Pyle is a time to reflect on the way newspaper columnists connect, educate, comfort, encourage, celebrate, outrage and occasionally even amuse readers and a time to express appreciation for them for their hard work.” In 1995, on the 50th anniversary of Pyle’s death, The National Society of Newspaper Columnists (NSNC) marked the day for the first time. The society continues to honor the day each year. www.columnists.com.
Read More Here:
https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/mydailytribune/obituary.aspx?n=ernie-pyle&pid=192484142
Wondering Wanderer: A whole Pyle of thanks on April 18th
Kelly Alley
I am absolutely thrilled about this particular day, and not just because I can finally celebrate it myself. National Columnists’ Day doesn’t just honor the columnists of today. It also brings attention to the life and work of one columnist in particular and my personal favorite: Ernie Pyle.
Read More Here:
Take 5: Toast to National Columnists’ Day
Ty Rushing
April 18 is National Columnists’ Day, a chance to honor all the great contributors to the printed and digital word.
Here at Iowa Information, we have a plethora of columnists who are on staff, freelancers and others who just want to share their thoughts in written format.
So in honor of National Columnists’ Day, here a few of my favorite columns written by our staff members over the years:
https://www.nwestiowa.com/take5/take-toast-to-national-columnists-day/article_dec73d82-61ed-11e9-a11d-e3e356260e4c.html
‘Movies D’Arthur’
By Bill Knight
Thursday is not only National Columnists Day, according to the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. It’s also Holy Thursday, the day before Camelot’s last four knights (Bors, Ector, Blamor and Bleoberis) perished during Good Friday battles in the Holy Land, according to some tales: a good time for a column about King Arthur on video.
Read it Here: https://www.cantondailyledger.com/news/20190418/movies-darthur
Why pages 2 and 3 matter
Martin L. Cahn
“Thursday (yesterday, for those of you reading this column on its publication date of April 19, 2019) was National Columnists Day. Sponsored by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists (NSNC), the observance “marks not only the tragic death of iconic American newsman Ernie Pyle, but is also a day for journalists everywhere to unite in solidarity.”
“About a month ago, NSNC Vice President Chandra Bozelko reached out to columnists and other journalists across the country to participate, and I decided to respond.”
Our View: Opinion journalism critical to communities
By News Tribune Editorial Board
We get accused all the time. “Too liberal!” “Too conservative!” Calls and emails follow columns or political cartoons that are particularly partisan. Northland Republicans like to complain about Eugene Robinson while the DFLers go after Marc A. Thiessen, both Washington Post columnists’ pieces published on Sundays.Read it Here:
Tidbits about our Community Voices columnists
Johnson City Press
For National Columnists Day, we thought it appropriate to share a few tidbits about our local Community Columnists to show our appreciation of them.
https://www.johnsoncitypress.com/Column/2019/04/17/What-s-up-with-beets-Tidbits-about-our-Community-Voices-columnists
April 18: a day to celebrate columnists and their readers
By M.C. Coolidge
April 18 is National Columnists Day, and whether you love ’em, hate ’em, or love to hate ’em — newspaper columnists sure can make reading the paper a lot more fun. We all need to stay informed with hard news, but honestly, there’s only so much Brexit and brouhaha about the economy a person can take.
https://www.facebook.com/VoxMCCoolidge/posts/2693313504028448?__tn__=K-R
2 local links to one of WWII’s finest columns
By Sam Venable
We ink-stained wretches tend to look at the world from a different, unique — some might say wacko — perspective than your average Joe and Jane.
Perhaps that explains why “our” holiday coincides with the date of a famous man’s death rather than his day of birth.
Opinion journalism
By Al McCombs
There are opinions among some of the public that newspapers are too opinionated. Particularly among those who don’t agree with what they contain.
Much of the criticism is directed at the fact that the newspapers now appear to have too much commentary in the places where strait news should be—like the front page. I’ll have to agree that there is too much stuff in locations where I and others expect more objective coverage to show up.
Across Many Miles (she re-shared a column she wrote a couple years ago)
By Terri Barnes
His was the first biography I ever read — at least the first one that had real chapters and more words than pictures. I was in the fifth grade, and I have not forgotten the story of his life, his writing and ultimately his sacrifice. His name was Ernie Pyle.
Faithful chronicler of military men on the front lines of WWII, Pyle covered the war from the Battle of Britain, even before the U.S. entered the war, to the D-Day invasion at Normandy, through campaigns in North Africa and Italy and to the cusp of victory in the Pacific.
